Tag Archives: Joachim Fischer Nielsen

BENGALURU: Top players of Bangalore Top Guns Kidambi Srikanth and Ashwini Ponnappa said Trump matches bring pressure because it changes the complexion of the tie pretty quickly.

“We feel a little bit of pressure because the whole team depends on you to pull off a crucial match to get vital bonus point. Yes, the trump match adds pressure because it changes the complexion of the match quickly,” Srikanth told reporters.

Ashwini, who plays the mixed doubles match for Top Guns, also talked about the pressure, but added it all depends on players how they handle the pressure and outsmart the opponent.
“Of course there is a lot of added pressure because they are crunch matches. However, success lies in how players handle the pressure in crunch situation,” she said.

Top Guns Coach Arvind Bhat said Trump matches are taken at a very crucial stage and hence the players are in different zone and feel differently.

Asked reasons for Joachim Fischer Nielsen playing just one mixed doubles, Bhat said the Danish star had to miss four days of the league for playing a league back home.

“It is purely an administrative issue. Because the window was short he had to go to participate in a league back home, and hence he missed four days of the PBL,” he said.

Asked did Fischer’s absence cost the team which now find themselves in a tough position to qualify for semifinal, Bhat said, “Yes, his absence has affected the team’s chances, otherwise we would have been probably at the second spot in points-table.”

Asked about the preparations for P.V. Sindhu and Suo Di match, Bhat said,
“We are expecting a very close contest between Di and Sindhu, but the pressure is on the latter. The underdogs always have an advantage to play freely, without much pressure,” Bhat said.

Led by champion shuttler P.V. Sindhu, Smashers had mixed results winning only 11 of their 20 matches so far.

The Hyderabadi will not play the trump match, as she already taken on that responsibility twice now Smashers will rely on Simon Santoso against skipper Kidambi Srikanth or opt for their mixed-doubles pair of Chris Adcock and Pia Zebediah to face Top Guns’ Ashwini Ponnappa and Joachim Fischer Nielsen.

The Bengaluru Top Guns would pick their Malaysian men’s doubles pairing of Khim Wah Lim and Hoon Then How or the mixed pair for the all important clash. Bhat said that despite the results going against Top Guns so far in the event, there were signs the team could bounce back. Even four wins out of five could do for the trick but the coach is targeting a big result.

MUMBAI: Bengaluru Top Guns went down 2-3 to Hyderabad Hunters in the Premier Badminton League clash on Sunday inspite of India’s highest ranked shutter, Kidambi Srikanth, pulled off an upset victory over former world No 1 Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia.

Hyderabad Hunters, in fact rallied from an early loss to overcome the Top Guns at the NSCI Sardar Vallabhai Patel indoor stadium on Sundayhad wrapped up the tie even before world No 5 Lee’s battle against world No 9 Srikanth by winning two out of the first three matches, but still it was a very creditable win by the Indian, who has never beaten the Malaysian great in four encounters at the international level.

Hyderabad started on the wrong foot by losing the first match, the women’s singles clash, when their Thai signing Supanida Katethong was beaten in straight games (15-8, 15-11) to Bengaluru’s Suo Di.

However, the Hunters gamble of making the men’s doubles clash as their trump match paid rich dividends as the scratch combine of Carsten Mogensen of Denmark and Indonesian Markis Kido fought back from a game down to get the better of Bengaluru’s Malaysian pair of Hoon Thien How and Kim Wah Lim 13-15, 15-9, 15-14.

This 2-1 advantage for Hyderabad was made 3-2 when Bengaluru’s Sameer Verma lost his singles trump match against the higher ranked Parupalli Kashyap 15-14, 15-13 to provide Hunters with a winning 3-0 points lead.

This made the last two matches of no importance, including the prime fifth match clash between the Malaysian Lee representing Hyderabad and Indian Srikanth of Bengaluru as well as the preceding mixed doubles match.